Nice article in the Decatur Democrat found by Jestiron
Car modified here wins GM award
Written by Reporter1
By ERIC MANN Revenge has been rewarded. Decatur-based Revenge Designs, which modifies current versions of Pontiac GTOs into souped-up vehicles that sell for $46,000 to $56,000, won the 2007 award from General Motors for Best Overall Exterior Design of cars or trucks in the entire GM system. The creative styling and trim award was presented at the spring exposition in Atlanta, Georgia by the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA). As a result of winning that major honor, Revenge Designs "has been chosen to join [GM's] design group to restyle another concept vehicle to be on display at the GM stand alongside the Revenge GTO at the SEMA Expo in Las Vegas later this year," Revenge founder and president Peter Collorafi said Collorafi also said Revenge, located on Patterson St. between 13th and 11th Sts., will soon begin making major modifications to two other Pontiac models: the Solstice and the G6 convertible. Collorafi, a native of Australia who now lives in Decatur with wife Bonnie and son Justin, said that "relocating to America has been the most challenging, yet exciting, time in our lives." Justin, who has worked with his father in the automotive field for six years, is also very active in Revenge Designs. The base price for a GTO is $33,000 and the two packages of improvements offered by Revenge boost that by $13,000 for the Revenge Edition and by $23,000 for the John Lingenfelter Signature Series. Lingenfelter was an internationally-known car crafter and engine-design specialist who ran Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) in Decatur until his untimely death a few years ago from injuries suffered in a drag racing accident. LPE still operates here, owned by former employee Tom Cress, and has a paint shop at the rear of the Revenge Designs building, doing all the painting for the Revenge cars. Revenge and LPE operate through a joint venture agreement. Collorafi also noted that, within the past nine months, Revenge Designs fully remodeled the previously-vacant building on Patterson St., once used by All American Homes to build modular homes. The building now has office space, new interior walls, etc. He pointed out that there are 2,850 Pontiac dealers in the United States, so the market for sales of Revenge's modified and enlarged GTOs is quite extensive. The GTOs from GM's production lines are widened by three inches in front and by four inches at the rear and have new rearview mirrors with lights in front, four projector foglamps, high-performance brakes, 20-inch-wide wheels, and other features, plus a base coat of paint and four additional layers. The Lingenfelter version, which comes with a certificate of authenticity, has all of that plus a special supercharger to bring horsepower up to 530, but because of the supercharger's design, the miles per gallon rises to 23 from 18 mpg for the production-line version, says Collorafi.
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